Since the advent of computers, a variety of computer operating systems for operating and managing computer hardware components and for operating and allowing for the use of computer software applications have been developed. A large and growing number of separate computer software applications have followed the development of computer operating systems.
The increasing use of computer networks at homes, schools, and large and small businesses has created in many instances the situation in which a system administrator of a business or institution is required to maintain and configure a number of different computer operating systems. Additionally, system administrators and users in general are required to navigate through the functionality of a number of different computer software applications.
Many operating systems have interactive help files and so called “wizards.” Wizards are interactive help utilities within an application or operating system that may be used to guide the user or administrator through steps of a particular task such as starting up an operating system, configuring the user management functions of an operating system, or starting up and using a computer software application, such as a word processing application.
In many cases help files and wizards are presented by operating systems and applications as graphical user interfaces that allow the user to ask for help and that guide the user through steps in obtaining help for a given task. However, because system administrators are often required to use and configure a number of different operating systems within a single network, and because users are often required to navigate the functionality of a number of different computer software applications, the task of learning the languages and functionalities of the different help files and wizards across a variety of operating systems and computer software applications becomes difficult and often unmanageable. Additionally, if the administrator or user speaks a different language than the native language of the operating systems or computer software applications, obtaining help from help files and/or wizards may not be intuitive to the administrator or user, and therefore may not be very useful.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.